I've had several different builds in the past (a 75g mixed reef and a nano mantis reef being my favorites), but I've always eyed the 40 Breeder. There's a reason they are so popular. Let's let the pictures do the talking!
Equipment:
Generic 40B glass aquarium
Modular Marine 800 GPH overflow
300w Viparspectra LED unit (yep, a generic black box LED)
2 x Jebao OW-25's
2 x Eheim 150 watt Heaters on an inkbird controller
Bubble Magus Curve 5 Skimmer
Sicce Syncra 2.0 return pump
ATO from autotopoff dot com
I put a lot of thought into where I'd get my rock from. I've done dry rock in the past and was never really satisfied with the lack of life on it even after it matures. So I went with uncured live rock from KPaquatics. Not gonna beat a dead horse (too much), but UPS really screwed me on this one. They were a day and a half late getting this delivered (was shipped next day air). The UPS driver asked that I open it when she dropped it off, because she wanted to mark it as damaged. She was literally gagging from 10 feet away. I have to say Philipp from KP is an awesome, super swell and neat guy, and I wouldn't hesitate to go through them again. These issues were solely on UPS, not KP.
Because most people like equipment pics. I used that ATO a couple times now. Not fancy, but it works really well (plus its got the safety backup).
Oddly enough, that skimmer broke in in about 4-5 days and has been pulling some nice brown nonsense out. It's only sitting in about 5-6" of water, but so far this depth is perfect, I feel it's easier to tune at this height.
This is the overflow from Modular Marine. Considering the price, this actually the only thing that bothers me like the live rock situation. Not sure how the bigger models are, but this is the smallest model and all three drain holes at the bottom of the exterior box line right up to where the bulkheads are from the aquarium side. I had to get really creative to plumb all three drains. Its definitely the most quiet overflow I've seen, but I'm not sure I'd go with them again.
So here's the biggest question for now........ I found two aquascapes I really like and cant decide which one I like the most. I'm leaving towards the second pic, I like that there is more room for flow, but I'd be curios to see what you all think. BTW, Im trying to work on the picture colors. I do tend to run my LEDs a little on the bluer side, but not as blue as the pics make it looks.
A few more angles, because, why not
So that's it for now. Today was a little bit of a turning point. After the live rock got here, I went through 150 gallons of water changes in 4 days, and the ammonia levels were still through the roof. So much so that I thought the test kit was busted (To confirm, I mixed and tested 0.5 ml of tank water with 4.5 ml of fresh saltwater multiple times, which tested at 1 ppm Ammonia at one point). However, today at the 10 day mark, tank levels are at about 0.75 and were reading high nitrites. So not too much going on, but I think its looking pretty cool and I and my kids are pretty excited about it.
Equipment:
Generic 40B glass aquarium
Modular Marine 800 GPH overflow
300w Viparspectra LED unit (yep, a generic black box LED)
2 x Jebao OW-25's
2 x Eheim 150 watt Heaters on an inkbird controller
Bubble Magus Curve 5 Skimmer
Sicce Syncra 2.0 return pump
ATO from autotopoff dot com
I put a lot of thought into where I'd get my rock from. I've done dry rock in the past and was never really satisfied with the lack of life on it even after it matures. So I went with uncured live rock from KPaquatics. Not gonna beat a dead horse (too much), but UPS really screwed me on this one. They were a day and a half late getting this delivered (was shipped next day air). The UPS driver asked that I open it when she dropped it off, because she wanted to mark it as damaged. She was literally gagging from 10 feet away. I have to say Philipp from KP is an awesome, super swell and neat guy, and I wouldn't hesitate to go through them again. These issues were solely on UPS, not KP.
Because most people like equipment pics. I used that ATO a couple times now. Not fancy, but it works really well (plus its got the safety backup).
Oddly enough, that skimmer broke in in about 4-5 days and has been pulling some nice brown nonsense out. It's only sitting in about 5-6" of water, but so far this depth is perfect, I feel it's easier to tune at this height.
This is the overflow from Modular Marine. Considering the price, this actually the only thing that bothers me like the live rock situation. Not sure how the bigger models are, but this is the smallest model and all three drain holes at the bottom of the exterior box line right up to where the bulkheads are from the aquarium side. I had to get really creative to plumb all three drains. Its definitely the most quiet overflow I've seen, but I'm not sure I'd go with them again.
So here's the biggest question for now........ I found two aquascapes I really like and cant decide which one I like the most. I'm leaving towards the second pic, I like that there is more room for flow, but I'd be curios to see what you all think. BTW, Im trying to work on the picture colors. I do tend to run my LEDs a little on the bluer side, but not as blue as the pics make it looks.
A few more angles, because, why not
So that's it for now. Today was a little bit of a turning point. After the live rock got here, I went through 150 gallons of water changes in 4 days, and the ammonia levels were still through the roof. So much so that I thought the test kit was busted (To confirm, I mixed and tested 0.5 ml of tank water with 4.5 ml of fresh saltwater multiple times, which tested at 1 ppm Ammonia at one point). However, today at the 10 day mark, tank levels are at about 0.75 and were reading high nitrites. So not too much going on, but I think its looking pretty cool and I and my kids are pretty excited about it.